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Monday, June 29, 2015

I remember when I used to write a blog post for every event in our lives, big and small.

As Noah got older, I couldn't keep that up anymore, so I started writing a monthly update featuring the highlights.

Then Sally was born, and with two kids I couldn't even manage a monthly update, so it's now become quarterly.

(I am thinking that if we have a third child, it will become bi-annually--if at all--so hey, quarterly is better than nothing!)

So here's the quick-ish recap of the Nielsons' Second Quarter (April, May, and June):

April

We had a fun Easter! I already wrote all about our new spiritual traditions, but here are a few snapshots from that weekend.

Easter jams! The cutest!

Duck onesie and Bunny shirt from Grandma

She wanted to eat the confetti eggs

Noah wanted to smash them!

Easter Eve lanterns

And sky lanterns!

Happy Easter!

Noah learned how to ride a two-wheeler bike. He got it on the very first try thanks to his strider bike which taught him how to balance. (Those things are amazing!) Ryan didn't even have to break his back by holding on to the bike seat and running behind him--Noah just hopped on and rode. He's a total dare devil and I fear for his life every time he rides, but we are trying to teach him bike safety and we are enjoying lots of bike rides as a family this summer. And don't worry: he DEFINITELY wears a helmet!

Wild Child

We spent much of the month of April creatively figuring out how to do our laundry because our dryer was broken, and the new one kept getting backordered. I think we went about six weeks without a dryer, and with two kids (one of whom occasionally wets the bed and one of whom occasionally spits up all over the bed), that was not easy. In addition to having clothes scattered all over our house air-drying, I hauled our clothes all over town, to laundromats and to friends' houses, to sneak loads in the dryer. I showed up to Book Club one night with a huge basket of laundry to dry. ;) We were so happy when the new dryer arrived, and I celebrated by washing every article of clothing, every towel, and every bed sheet in the house! (I'd been doing the bare minimum for six weeks.)

The new dryer! So happy!

Piles and piles of clean laundry to fold

May
Noah finished up his first year of preschool with a Mother's Day Spring Sing. He loved preschool. I'm so glad I stuck with it even though he cried and was resistant for the first few weeks of the year. I really respect his teachers and love their methods, and he learned so much--letters, patriotic songs, manners, information about the solar system, dinosaurs, animals, and of course social skills.

So proud at the Spring Sing

Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Sanger

He is the most outgoing little bug, and he was so sad when his school year was over. One day when we were driving, he said out of the blue, "I miss my preschool. Why won't they let me come back in the summer?" I explained to him that no one is there in the summer, not even the teachers. (I think he thought he was the only one??)

He can't wait for the school year to start again, and I am actually going to put him in five-days-a-week preschool next year. He will go three mornings a week at his current preschool and two afternoons a week at a small in-home preschool run by a friend. When I first decided to do this, I felt a little guilty--like, am I a bad mom for sending my four-year-old to five days of preschool? But Noah is so very social, and since he doesn't have any siblings who can play with him yet, he wants me to play with him all day. I love to play with him, but I also want to get some other things done during the day. A two-hour break every day will be good for both of us, and it means less screen time for him as well. So I'd say win-win, and I am not going to feel guilty about it.

One of my dearest friends Nelda got married in Logan, Utah, and Ryan and I took the kids for the event. I have known Nelda for ten years (she was in my study abroad group in El Salvador), and she is the truest of true friends. It was so wonderful to celebrate her big day with her.

I love this hermana

I love the look in Nelda's eyes here as my kids go crazy at her reception. Like, "Is this really what my future holds??"

Noah got to go to the Pocatello Train Museum with his dad and grandpa during one of the many weekends that I was out of town. He was in heaven!

We spent much of the month of May observing the birds' nest in our barbecue. We discovered it there one day when we were about to start it up, and thank goodness we didn't because it was so fascinating to watch the baby birds grow. Noah and I would peek at the eggs and then the birds every day, and lots of the neighborhood kids came by to check them out as well. This experience also inspired a game called "Baby Bird, Mama Bird." Noah would make "nests" out of blankets, and then he would chirp for me to come and feed him. I would throw mini-marshmallows into his mouth. ;)

With a scab on his nose from falling off his bike, obv

June
I am determined to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom more, so I've been searching out ideas for day-trips and outings. I've compiled a big list, and we try to do at least one outing per week. I am only brave enough to attempt these outings on Ryan's day off so he can come with us. (I can barely handle two children by myself at home, let alone on an epic adventure--and by "epic adventure," I mean a 45-minute drive.) From this list of outings, we have found some real gems and some real duds. And we almost always get lost searching for these little-known places, but hey, it makes the stories so much better--in retrospect!

This is how Noah felt about getting lost for an hour as we searched for this humming bird sanctuary--I felt the same way!

It was pretty cool to watch the hummingbirds once we got there

Some of our adventures end up like this

Cauldron Linn for date-night because it's too dangerous for the kiddos--no railings

Twin Falls Museum

Cool old merry-go-round

We love hiking!

Canyon bottom--we saw about 10 base jumpers jumping off the bridge with their colorful parachutes

Tired happy girl

Relaxing in the hammock after a long day of adventuring

Ryan bought me a ginormous tent for Mother's Day to make more of these adventures possible. We call this baby Hotel Nielson. We haven't actually used it to camp yet, but we plan to later this summer. I asked him if this is a hint that he wants a bunch more kids? ;)

And a quick shout-out to my little Noah for being the world's best traveler. He is so good in the car on these outings. I have no idea why because he's not usually the calm type, but he just looks out the window and sometimes plays "I-Spy" with us. We don't give him the iPad and he doesn't know that the DVD player in the van works, and somehow, he is happy. It is truly bewildering. When I thanked him recently for being so good in the car, he said, "Well, Mom, I just love looking at the scenery." ??? :) :) :)

In addition to outings, I've really put forth effort to make my time at home with Noah more fun. A friend of mine gave me the suggestion to "lean in" to motherhood when I recently confided in her that I was feeling burned out. She told me that she feels less burned out as a mother when she truly invests in a way that is meaningful to her and uses her unique talents with her kids. This rang true to me, so I started thinking about what I could do to make stay-at-home motherhood more suited to my personality.

Did you know that I was a camp counselor every summer all through high school and college? I planned tons of activities for my campers, and then I went to El Salvador and volunteered in an orphanage and did the same thing for all the kids there. As I thought about what I could do to breathe more life into my days at home with the kids, I realized that I could use some of the creativity that I employed as a camp counselor. Duh, right? But it's so easy to get caught up in the "to-dos" of motherhood and forget about the fun.

We've done lots of little things, like making a hat out of pipe cleaners, flying kites one afternoon when it was windy, and going for impromptu bike rides to get snow cones. We've also done some "bigger" things that took more effort, such as making a fire station out of a huge box and hosting a Fire Academy with Noah's friends where they "trained" as firefighters by going through an obstacle course. They had to bust out of the fire station on a truck, crawl under the "smoke" (a table), climb a ladder to rescue a cat from a tree, stop drop and roll, and spray down "fire" (cones) with a hose. Ryan helped me come up with the tasks, and it turned out really cute and fun.

But let me assure you that everything with these activities is not picture-perfect. In the days leading up to "Fire Ac-ah-demy" (as Noah called it), he was so excited; but he spent much of the afternoon of the big event wailing when things didn't go his way. (So infuriating for a mother who just wanted to plan something fun for him!!!) I learned from that experience that I should probably limit the number of kids that I invite over for things like that because Noah wants to be the leader, and when no one is listening to him and bigger kids are taking his things, he gets very angry. (He shouted at one of his guests who was being a bit of a bully to "Go home!" So embarrassing!! But after the fact I thought about it and realized that maybe it's a good thing that Noah will never be a doormat. I kind of love that kid's spunk.) It was a chaotic afternoon, and I think Noah and I will both remember it with mixed feelings, but it was worth doing--if only to learn more about my son's personality and how to help him have a better experience at social events in the future.

We actually did the Fire Academy again a few weeks later and just invited two friends--this went much better!

All in all, I think my friend was right. I do enjoy being a stay-at-home mother more when I do stuff like this with Noah. It's not so much for him as it is for me. It gives me more opportunities to use my talents, to connect with him, and to feel like I am making a difference to my kids by being home with them. I am going to try to keep it up!

And finally, in the month of June, at the encouragement of my hormone doctor, I completed a Whole 30. This is thirty days of basically eating only vegetables, meat, eggs, fruit, and nuts (no sugar, no grains, no dairy, no legumes). It's a month of Paleo, but even more strict because you can't have honey or any sort of "treat," even if it doesn't include grains or sugar.

My doctor was hopeful that this "nutritional reset" would help with my on-going hormone issues, and I think it helped a little, but it didn't solve all of my problems completely. I still feel like it was worth doing because I learned so much about nutrition. I read and researched, I scoured every label in the grocery store, I recipe-searched, meal-planned, chopped vegetables, chopped more vegetables, and chopped more vegetables. I cooked and cleaned and made my own barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, salad dressings, and clarified butter. I didn't eat one speck of sugar for thirty days. (!!!!) It was so much work--pretty much all-consuming--and there were days when I was unbelievably grumpy because I just wanted a slice of pizza or a brownie, but I did it. I completed a Whole 30. For a girl who hates cooking, washing dishes, and most vegetables (and who doesn't have any sort of healthy store like Sprouts or Whole Foods nearby), I'd say this is quite a feat!

Thankfully, my little sister did it with me (she was hoping to find a miracle cure for her debilitating eczema--no such luck) and Ryan did it with me (he was hoping to lose twenty pounds--totally kidding! that man cannot afford to lose an ounce!), and I couldn't have done it without their support. Ryan actually loves eating this way and says he could do it forever. I hope to continue eating mostly this way, because I like the way it makes my body feel and it has helped me lose weight, but I cannot maintain the strictness of this diet forever. It's all about balance in life, and I don't plan to freak out if I occasionally want to eat a cookie or a piece of pizza--or if I want to use store-bought BBQ sauce instead of making my own! (I am SO over cooking!!)

Now I am in the "reintroduction" phase where I introduce each food group back slowly and see how my body reacts. It has been quite an experience, and I'm glad I did it, even though it was super hard.

So as you can see, it was a whirlwind quarter, as always. It's been a good few months. I feel like I have worked hard on a few of my goals related to motherhood and health, and it feels so great to be moving forward.

Monday, June 22, 2015

This outrageous little lady is 11 months old today. How is this possible?? She also has a new title: The Wally. This name was lovingly bestowed by her brother Noah. The other day at his swimming lessons, he said to his teacher, "Look! The Wally is over there!" Obviously his teacher had no idea what he was talking about, and it made me laugh.

Sally Wally is as happy as ever, but, man oh man, is she a menace. She is so busy--always moving, always wiggling out of my arms. Changing her diaper is nearly impossible with her twisting and kicking. Church is completely unbearable because there is no way she is staying in a pew. She spends a lot of time out in the hall with one of her parents. (Honestly, is there any point in going to church when you have children age five and under??)

It's crazy to me that she was such a chill infant, content to just sit and watch the family. Now she will do anything but sit! She doesn't even like to be held, and she certainly won't snuggle. :( The only time I can occasionally get her to cuddle with me is when I feed her a bottle and she's tired enough to fall asleep in my arms. That's my favorite. Once she's sleeping soundly, I put her against my chest, put my head on her hair, and rock her just a few minutes longer before I lay her down. Heaven.

When I recently took her to the childcare at the YMCA, they told me that they had never seen a busier baby. Haha--I'm glad to know it's not just me! But as long as she's free to roam and destroy, she's a really happy girl. The only times she screams in protest is when she's contained in her highchair or carseat. She just wants to be free! (I must add that this sometimes makes mealtimes and car trips very unpleasant for the rest of the family.)

She spends a lot of time at my feet throughout the day. She destroys things while I work. While I do dishes, unload the dishwasher, pay bills, or get ready for the day, she is always underfoot. I never want to forget looking down to see her grinning up at me.

She crawls at lightning speed and doesn't have any interest in walking yet (why would she when she can crawl faster than I can jog??). She doesn't like the feeling of the floor on her bare knees, and since it's summer now and she is often wearing shorts or skirts, she pretty much always bear crawls. Cutest thing ever, with her little bum up in the air.

She does like to take steps while pushing her walker and toy lawn mower, but I haven't really seen her cruise furniture yet, and she doesn't stand without holding on to something. So I think walking is still a few months off.

She is a friendly baby and is willing to go to anyone without a fuss. She is easy to leave with babysitters, and I've almost never seen her display separation anxiety.

She has become a good sleeper. She started sleeping through the night 12 solid hours around 8.5 months, and in the past few weeks, she's even become a good long napper. This is new for her, and I hope it lasts!

Something else new for her is that she has suddenly started taking a binky. The other day we had some friends over, and she kept trying to steal the other babies' pacifiers. She would grab them, pop them in her mouth, and crawl away super fast. She would never take a binky as a little baby, and I even tried about a month ago and she still wouldn't. But after seeing her try to steal our friends' binkies, I decided to give her a pacifier and see what happened. Sure enough, she took it and kept it in her mouth and loved it. What in the world?? So now we are going to let her have it when she sleeps. It really helps her to self-soothe and settle down. Where she used to protest when I laid her down, now she just lies there content and watches me go. I certainly hope it lasts!

She has the cutest little expressions. She tucks her bottom lip under sometimes, and Ryan says this is something that I do. (I doubt I look as cute as her when I do it!) She also scrunches her nose and sticks out her lips when she has allergies or a stuffy nose--it's adorable. I really need to get a photo of it.

She is an amazing eater. We never really gave her baby food or purees but went straight to table foods around 7 months. She eats what we eat--all types of meat, fruits, vegetables, pasta. Her current favorites seem to be blueberries, deli meats, and mozzarella cheese. She didn't get her first tooth until 10-months old, and even before that, she was gumming down hamburgers. So crazy!

But sometimes her willingness to eat anything gets her into trouble. She constantly eats paper and toilet paper despite my best efforts to keep it out of reach, she once ate goose poop when we were at the park before I could get to her (yes, goose poop! I almost threw up as I scraped it out of her mouth), and one evening she grabbed a roly-poly bug and popped it in her mouth in one swoop before I could stop her. Good grief--I mean can these things taste good? MENACE!

She still only has one tooth, and it kills me. It sticks up out of her bottom gums like the cutest little snaggletooth when she grins. And she grins A LOT.

She has become so playful in the last month or so--always laughing, always playing "peek-a-boo" and "chase" with us. I love getting down on my hands and knees to let her chase me. She laughs uproariously and tries to tackle and wrestle me.

She is getting so smart and interactive. She puts my phone up to her ear and pretends to talk on it. She takes her brush and tries to comb her hair. When I print things out, she grabs the papers from the printer and holds them up toward me. When she's with a group of people and everyone laughs, she chimes in with a little social laugh too. I can't believe that she is starting to understand the world.

It seems like she is trying to say some words, though at this age it's hard to tell what is just gibberish and what is intentional. She sometimes seems to say "Hi" to people as she waves; she sometimes calls for "Noah!" after I do (doesn't sound anything like "Noah" but it's the same two-tone inflection that I use, and she looks right toward his bedroom when she says it); and she sometimes seems to shout "Dada!" first thing in the morning. Again, none of this is definitive sounds quite yet, and maybe it's just in my head, but it's obvious that she is starting to communicate with us in her own sweet way.

I don't want her to grow up! But I've said that before, and yet every stage is just as much fun as the stage before, in its own way. So instead of feeling sad that time is passing so quickly, I am trying to just savor every phase We sure love our little princess, The Wally! In fact, we are completely smitten.

THE LITTLE GAL

Lover of squishes from Mama, snuggles from Daddy, and tickles from Brother

Who feels content and smiley first thing in the morning

Who needs shoes that will actually stay on her kicking, wiggly feet

Who gives mega-watt grins that melt the heart

Who fears the raucous (but affectionate) smothering of her older brother

Who would like to see her aunties and grandparents more often

Resident of a comfy one-story home where she is the queen

THE LITTLE GUY

Lover of the Polar Express, all things sugar, and his "Baby Sister"

Who feels ecstatic when "chuffing" one of his beloved trains around the house

Who needsexplanations for everything, big and small

Who gives strangers a reason to smile with his friendly chatter

Who fears"spooky" shadows, scary scenes in movies, and toilets that flush by themselves

Who would like to see a friend come over to play every single day

Resident of a house covered in photos of him and his sister

RACH

Lover of conversationswith a kindred, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and Idaho sunsetsWho feels overwhelmingly happy when nibbling on one of her delicious childrenWho needs daily quiet time to thinkWho fears losing someone else whom she loves

Who givescare packages to her friends and love letters to her kids and RyanWho would like to see more openness, compassion, and individuality in the worldResident of a little house with cute daisy bushes in front

RY

Lover of ice cream, the night sky, and dance parties with his happy kidsWho feels glorious at the peak of an Idaho mountainWho needs alone time to just look at the ceiling when he gets home from workWho gives froyo gift certificates and sugar-free suckers to his dental patientsWho fears talking on the phone and settling for less than his potentialWho would like to see family cartrips in a minivan to explore the WestResident of Twin Falls, ID

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"Don't you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead...Trust God, and believe in good things to come." Jeffrey R. Holland

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"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver

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